From my experience, the idea of being a creative has always been a romanticized idea; even being a starving artist and "suffering for your art" was a dream worth fighting for. That idea was subverted when I sat down with James Worsham. James is a creative whose job description is hard to narrow down to one title (or ten for that matter). In short, James works in the field of creative composition: he is hired to use any given material to convey any given idea/emotion/message. This can range from wood to stone to paper planes to glitter to fur and so on. Although this profession and skill set alone makes James a creative oddity, what I found more fascinating was his perspective on the act of creating or why a person creates at all. Where some people might simply call creativity a joy and an outlet, James also described it as "a cancer".

Though still a joy and uplifting, James also considers creating to be less of a choice of pass-time and more of something he HAS to do. If he isn't putting art out into the world, he loses sleep, he can't focus, and he doesn't feel like himself. He is choosing to create, but knowing the alternative would be a lifetime of feeling unfulfilled.

Fortunately for us and James, what James compulsively creates always has a quality that is uplifting. And although James spoke of the burden of creating, he also spoke to me in great detail about the joy he has in being able to create. He remarked that he isn't interested in making political statements with his art, but it is clear that as an alternative he has waged a war with his pieces. Everything he has made and plans on making is a push back to the darkness and injustice in the world. It's a response to the depravity and sadness that exists and makes itself known too often.

The time I spent getting to know James was empowering and a joy. I'm thankful to have a friend who is as wise as he is inspiring.